Healthy Meal Delivery Startup ‘Freshly’ Raises $21-M

An NYC-based company that delivers healthy meals for a price of at about $11 per meal, the model is different from others in some Key ways.

Unlike a meal kit service Blue Apron, Freshly meals do not require any cooking just heat and serve, and unlike on-demand meal services such as Sprig, ‘Freshly’ just makes a single delivery with all your meals for a given week.

“Our thought process was that on-demand means different things,” CEO Michael Wystrach said. “What we like to say is that you could have someone deliver you toothpaste when you want it, but having toothpaste already in your medicine cabinet is true on-demand. And when people are hungry, you’re hungry right now. You don’t want to have to wait for it.”

He added that in his view, Freshly’s real competitors are not tech startups, but rather the traditional options of restaurants and grocery stores.

Apparently the company emerged from Mr. Wystrach’s personal experience of trying to eat healthier and lose weight, he compared the service to having your own personal nutritionist who cooks your meals for you.

Customers can choose plans starting at $11.50 per meal for 6 meals per week, the per-meal price goes down as you order more. You select the specific meals from a larger menu, every option is supposed to include healthy protein and vegetables, and to be free of gluten and processed sugar.

The company is working to add options tailored to specific diets like vegetarianism and the Paleo Diet.

Freshly, which now claims to deliver 250,000 meals each month to 28 states, previously raised $7-M in Series A funding. The new round was led by Insight Venture Partners, with participation from previous investors Highland Capital Partners and White Star Capital.

Mr. Wystrach said this will help Freshly expand to all 50 states in the US, and to make the service available to anyone in those states, not just customers living in major metropolitan areas.

It also allow Freshly to expand its menu and improve its technology.

“We’re excited about the integration of technology with food over time, when we start learning about you individually and learning foods you like or don’t like,” he said. “Then we can offer the other side of the quantified self.”